Placemaking

architecture and urban design projects

Take Aways from Open Streets PGH 2025

by Thoughts?

James Hollister weighs in on the importance of events like Open Streets PGH, and why a car-free afternoon can catalyze change in every community.

Missing Middle Models: A Milestone for the Mountain West

by Thoughts?

Jackson Hole's housing crisis could get relief with the Northern South Park neighborhood development, aimed at middle income families with few affordable options in the Wyoming community.

Rachel Carson Ecovillage

Situated on Chatham University’s Eden Hall Campus in Pennsylvania, the Rachel Carson Ecovillage (RCE) aims to attract and connect diverse residents through sustainability and inclusivity. RCE will be a multi-generational community that invites residents to build strong relationships with neighbors while caring for the environment.

SmartMoves Connections

Building on SPC’s SmartMoves long range plan, evolveEA developed novel land use analysis tools to identify transit-supportive clusters throughout the region where new multimodal transit hubs could enable improved regional connectivity.

Hazelwood Green

With leadership from evolveEA, Hazelwood Green is transforming into a low carbon development with aggressive energy, water, waste, and transportation goals, compliant with 2030 and P4 targets, and is to be certified under LEED for Neighborhood Development.

Station Area Planning for Transit Oriented Development

Station Area Planning enables the Port Authority to strategically manage its facilities and operations, and increase ridership by densifying urban nodes around transit stations and promoting healthy, active, car-free, and affordable lifestyles.

Etna Ecodistrict Education & Planning

The Etna EcoDistrict is building on the successes and methods of neighboring ecodistricts and participating in the Triboro Ecodistrict. evolveEA designed a full year community education curriculum that explores key ecodistrict concepts of Water, Food, Energy, Air, Mobility, and Equity.

Fifth & Dinwiddie Transit Oriented Development

The Uptown neighborhood will see a transformation from parking lots to a multi-use development that includes affordable and market-rate housing, a bus rapid transit hub, and public art allowing opportunities for cultural expression. evolveEA led the masterplanning of the public spaces and is currently designing the public spaces with artists from the Hill and Uptown.

Living Cities Masterplan

Like many post-industrial communities, the Larimer neighborhood has seen massive amounts of disinvestment in its residents, organizations and infrastructure. In collaboration with the community, evolveEA articulated a “living cities” vision that examined ways that energy independence, net zero water use, and localized food economies could make the existing community more resilient and attract and sustain equitable development.

Breathe Easy: Millvale Air Quality Planning

The Millvale Air Quality Plan was initiated because the Pittsburgh region ranks in the worst 4% of US cities for air quality, emphasizing a major health risk. As part of their Ecodistrict Pivot 2.0 Plan, Millvale Borough set the goal to become a “clean air community where people can breathe easy indoors and out”. The Breathe Easy Plan and implementation projects demonstrate how a citizen science research project can utilize expertise in the region to empower residents and produce impactful placemaking strategies.